oh yeah… he said “maxwear”… but COME ON!!! max wear is lame. for some silly reason, SM seems to think that chubs love in dull colored plains and plaids all the time. just like anybody else, a fashionable chubby guys likes color and good classic designs.

another thing too… maxwear DOES NOT have a good concept of what plus size is. PLUS and EXTENDED sizes range anywhere beyond 50inches for chest sizes, and should have adjusted arm holes for extra arm girth. they DON’T have that. i should know, because i’ve been there… and i’m plus size, and i know they can’t cater to my needs.

most stores locally don’t carry plus or extended sizes… in fact, it’s an under-serviced market. the only commercial store i know that carry something near my size (which is a 2XL american size based on nautica, and 3XL-4XL local size, chest size 52-54 inches) is Marks and Spencer. Even brands that are known in the US to carry plus and extended sizes don’t bring their wears locally… like the GAP, and NAUTICA (Nautica just recently stopped sending american sizes to their local stores last year).

it’s understandable though; asians are smaller, but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a market for bigger guys. it’s frustrating really. in the end you eventually end up exploring online stores. american eagle’s online store (www.ae.com) and aeropostale (www.aeropostale.com) is my favorite since they carry my size in inventory, and they have great designs (i go to the GAP too… they nice designs every now and then, and they have great polo shirts); and there’s Casual Male XL (which ships to the Philippines too). here’s the problem though… INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING (which is usually $50 / Php2000+ … just as pricey as the stuff you’re buying). what’s worse, some online stores don’t ship internationally — so you’ll have to have family to ship to in the US who can ship it to you in turn.

hope this information helps those who, like me, are happy the way we are, but would just like the big corporate eggheads to realize that not everyone in the Philippines is sized like pygmy dwarfs.